A variety of interesting and unique games were playable for attendees

I’ve been going to Gamercamp since its second year and over the course of my time attending the event, I’ve seen countless developers showcase their hard work and creativity.

In Gamercamp’s fifth year, the festival amped up how many amazing games were actually playable by the public. It’s a great to see so many people under one roof share the idea of making new friends and collaborate on video game related ideas.

Jaime Woo, Executive Director and Co-Founder and his team put a lot of effort into this year’s Gamercamp and it’s going to be exciting to see what they come up with next year.

Below is a selection of some of the best titles at Gamercamp this year.

Hohokum – Honeyslug

If you’re into minimalism and adventure games, Hohokum will fit in nicely with your collection. Made at Santa Monica Studios, Hohokum is a visually stunning game where the player has to travel around small worlds and interact with almost everything to discover secrets and treasures.

The music in the game is also great and in general, it’s more of a pick-up-and-play style title.

Hohokum is set to be release on the Playstation 4 sometime in 2014.

A fishing game with actual water – Francis Sheridan Paré

If you’re looking for a game that has interesting mechanics, then Francis’ game, A Fishing Game with Actual Water, is about as unique as you can possibly get, mainly because it uses real water.

The game is played using three bowls of water per player (2 player). On the screen fish fall and you have to make a splash in the corresponding bowl. Players have to avoid splashing when a red fish is on screen to avoid losing two points.

It’s always great to see game designers create new experiences without using a typical controller as a means of pushing gameplay and making it fun for people to experience and play.

Crypt of the Necrodancer – Brace Yourself Games

The best way to describe Crypt of the Necrodancer would be that it’s a mixture of DDR and a dungeon crawler all in one package. You travel though dungeons killing monsters who dance just as good as you, to collect coins. The coins can then be used to upgrade your character. Different combinations of controls make your character do things to advance through harder levels.

Although the game is playable with a DDR mat, you can also use a controller. I don’t think that would be much fun though since it’s much harder to dance that way.

Pyramid Party – Kenneth Yeung & Vic Nguyen

Made for the Royal Ontario Museum Game Jam, Pyramid Party is a game where a player is in control of a pharaoh and has to move coloured blocks from the bottom of the level to the top in order to create a chain that solidifies the blocks.

The goal of the game is to have the solid blocks of the game to be in the shape of a pyramid. The more it looks complete, the higher the percentage will be.

Super Time Force – Capybara Games

Made by Toronto’s Capybara Games, Super Time Force is an 8-bit shooter where time is always of the essence. When you get killed in battle, you can rewind time to a safe point and either choose the same character or select a different character to start from that point. The cool thing is, the ghost of your past play will fight with you.

In Super Time Force, sometimes you have to die in order to progress through the game and complete a task. For example, using someone with a shield to protect you, is a frequent strategy. It’s an insane game and while it might be difficult, it’s something you should play even just to experience its amazing pixel art graphics.

Tether – Team Plain Cat

Tether, made at Toronto Game Jam, is a four-player anti-co-op game where everyone takes control of an eye of a certain colour. Every few seconds a colour will appear randomly in the level and you’ll have to try your best to get the colour if it matches yours.

The thing is, the more colours you collect, the stronger you are. However, the other players don’t want you to get any colours so there was an element of chaos, which works perfectly for the game.

You can play Tether online here. Use a controller and make sure you use a controller (trust me on this).

Huskerball – KPD Games

Huskerball, made by Kyle Dwyer, is a 4-player sci-fi sports game where players have to deal with zero gravity and try to maintain control over a ball in order to shoot it into their goal to score points.

The physics of the game are what stood out to me. The zero gravity made it a little difficult to control the ball, but the challenge and the fun factor when playing with three other people made the control issues disappear. Huskerball is a fun experience that I can’t wait to play with friends.

Toto Temple – Juicy Beast

Toto Temple is a fast-paced goat wielding multiplayer mayhem thing and was one of the best games that was made during TOJam. The cute Totem-like art style got me to line up more than once to test the game out.

The object of the game is to grab the goat and hold on to it for as long as you can. While you’re holding onto the goat, other players can charge head-butt you to stun your character and take the goat away. The arena where you play isn’t very large, so there’s a lot of stealing.

Soundself

I walked into a dark room with visuals projected onto a screen and a microphone in the middle of a room. Soundself is a game where the microphone picks up noise and depending on how loud you are, and the pitch of your voice, the game’s visuals will change.

I made a loud growling noise to speed up the visuals and it was very neat and interesting. It also made me realize that not a lot of Gamercamp attendees were comfortable making loud noises. It’s a shame, because the game is more fun when there’s more than one person playing.

Jazzpunk – Necrophone Games

I don’t even know where to start with a game like Jazzpunk. However, I can tell you that you that the game is absolutely hilarious. In a world that allows you to get a secret gadget which turns people into pigeons, it’s hard not to get me interested.

Comedy adventure games of this caliber deserve to be played and explored by the player.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime – Asteroidbase

As a person who loves co-op games, Lovers was love a must play for me at Gamercamp. Originally a TOJam game, Lovers has transformed into a visually stunning space exploration co-operative adventure and it’s one of my top games that I managed to go hands-on with while attending PAX Prime.

While playing Lovers, you take control of two cute characters on a spaceship that comes equipped with a variety of defensive and attacking gizmos. These attacks are used to destroy space monsters and destroy asteroids.

Although the game focuses a lot on multiplayer, there is a single player, but I strongly suggest playing with a friend. It’s a great experience.